Abstract
In this study, heavy mineral analysis was carried out in different size fractions of the Yellow River sediment to extract its end-members. It shows that heavy mineral contents, species, and compositions vary in different grain sizes. Distribution curve of heavy mineral concentration (HMC) and particle size frequency curve are in normal distribution. In most samples, the size fraction of 4.5–5.0 Φ contains the maximum HMC (18% on average). Heavy mineral assemblages of the Yellow River are featured by amphibole + epidote + limonite + garnet. Amphibole content is high in coarse fraction of >3.0 Φ and reaches its peak value in 3.5–4.5 Φ. Epidote is rich in a size fraction of >3.5 Φ, and increase as the particle size becomes fine. Micas content is high in coarse subsamples of <3.0 Φ, but almost absent in fine grains of >4.0 Φ. Metallic minerals (magnetite, ilmenite, hematite, and limonite) increase as the sediment particle size become fine, and reach the peak in silt (>4.0 Φ). Other minerals such as zircon, rutile, tourmaline, garnet, and apatite account for about 15%, and mainly concentrate in fine sediment. Further analysis reveals that similarity value between the most abundant grain size group and wide window grain size group is high (0.978 on average). The grain size of 4.0–5.0 Φ ± 0.5 Φ is suitable to carry out detrital mineral analysis in the Yellow River sediments. Our study helps to eliminate cognitive bias due to narrow grain size strategy, and to provide heavy mineral end-members of the Yellow River sediment for provenance discrimination in the marginal seas of East China.
Highlights
The Yellow River, characterized by high suspended sediment concentration (SSC), significantly influences the sedimentary process in the East China Margin Sea, especially the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea [1,2]
In order to carry out source identification effectively, it is necessary to analyze the distribution of detrital heavy minerals in different grain sizes of the Yellow River sediments
Grain size analysis shows that sediments of the Yellow River estuarine were mainly fine silt and clay
Summary
The Yellow River, characterized by high suspended sediment concentration (SSC), significantly influences the sedimentary process in the East China Margin Sea, especially the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea [1,2]. In order to carry out source identification effectively, it is necessary to analyze the distribution of detrital heavy minerals in different grain sizes of the Yellow River sediments. These analyses help to fully understand the mineralogical characteristics of modern Yellow River sediments, and to establish end-member minerals. As a traditional provenance study method, heavy mineral analysis is widely used to extract natural signals of rock structure, parent rock types, weathering condition, transportation process, and secondary alteration [15,16,17,18,19,20] In this traditional method, very fine sand (0.125–0.063 mm or 3.0–4.0 Φ) is selected to carry out mineral identification. The end-member minerals of the Yellow River sediment are revealed by similarity analysis
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